IN A BREAK with the conservative traditions of academic discourse, the DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski has entered cyberspace with his own personal blog.
The blog - named the "Diary of a University President" - will chronicle the daily life of Dr von Prondzynski, who is one of the more outspoken figures in Irish higher education.
To date, the president has posted blogs on his own battle with lumbago as well as musings about the supposed "modernisation" of higher education.
In characteristic style, he says universities have become just about the "most conservative and reactionary bodies in society".
The DCU president is also planning a blog on MySpace and Facebook in order to reach students in what he sees as their own natural habitats. Dr von Prondzynski, who is in the eighth year of a 10-year contract at DCU, has been hugely successful in building the strong reputation of the college, based in Glasnevin, north Dublin.
He has been a vocal critic of the Department of Education's management of the third-level sector, arguing that a separate ministry might be necessary to give stronger direction.
In the blog he writes how the traditional collegiate model might not be so easily sustainable today, because it is highly change-resistant.
He says the goal of a modern, genuinely inclusive university has been obscured by the "emphasis on some Aunt Sally topics such as 'privatisation', which actually has fairly little objective meaning and is just being used to stir passions".
The blog is at http://universitydiary.wordpress.com
